Beauty

Chapter 25

Upon entering, against her will, into Conference Room A, Callie was blinded by lights and desensitized by a loud rumble of voices with questions bombarding her from every side. As her eyes adjusted to the lights, she realized that she was in a room full of paparazzi with their cameras in hand and her blood ran cold. The questions they had been asking had pertained to her "traumatic" ordeal at the Neverland Ranch with Michael Jackson.

   The questions dulled to a low hum and then to silence as a white haired man Callie had never seen before stepped up to a podium and urged everyone to calm down reassuring them that all of their questions would be answered. The man turned and looked at Callie with his arm towards her. "Callie," he gestured her up to the podium and she could feel Malissa on her left side pushing her closer to the man. He pulled her up to the podium and kept one arm around her as he requested, "One question at a time, please." He then stepped to the side and left Callie alone in the spotlight with at least 50 different pair of eyes on her. 

   The frozen feeling she had felt before gave way to boiling heat as Callie began to realize what was happening. Questions started pouring in, slowly at first. But as Callie refused to answer, they became more urgent. The white haired man slid beside Callie again, getting the crowd under control for a second time. He then turned to Callie and, as if speaking to a 12 year old, said "Callie, these people have some questions for you. I need to you to answer them for me ok?"

   "I don't even know who you are." Callie shot him a look. 

   The man gave a chuckle. "I'm your agent."

   "I don't need an agent, I need to get out of here." Callie proclaimed as she looked back out into the see of greedy faces and cameras.

   "Callie, I understand it's a sensitive subject, but can you tell us about your ordeal at Neverland Ranch? Did Mr.Jackson ever hurt you?" Came an anonymous voice from the crowd.

   "What?" Callie spat out, enraged.

   "Miss Moore," Another voice emerged from the crowd, "At what point did you begin to fear for your life? Was it when Mr.Jackson attacked the reporter?"

   "What? NO!" Callie yelled. "He didn't attack anyone, he was protecting me!"

   It seemed to go unnoticed as another question flew up from the crowd. "Callie, Michael has been known to keep company with mainly young children. Have you ever seen inappropriate behavior between them during your stay?"

   Callie felt so enraged she wanted to scream. She turned to her mother, who had stepped up beside her and hugged her in a protective manner but looked out at the crowd giving off small sad smiles. "What have you done?" Callie could barely get it out with the way her voice wavered. Malissa looked at her momentarily but then turned back to a reporter who had just asked her to express her feelings over her daughter's homecoming. 

   Callie felt sickness churning in her stomach again. Questions fired more rapidly from the crowd and the white haired man- the agent- was having trouble trying to settle the room again as he answered questions of his own. Callie looked to her right at Mark and her father. Joe kept his eyes trained on the floor. Mark gave Callie an apologetic look before doing the same. Callie gave the hungry mob one last look before breaking from her mother's grasp and running for the door. Mark and Joe made no attempt to stop her.

   Callie ran from the room, through the glass doors of the fancy hotel and into the rain. She found it odd that it was raining as she had never pictured a rainy day in California. She kept running, wondering just how many acres the hotel sat on as she passed by tennis courts and a golf course. She finally slowed and let herself rest when she saw that no one was behind her. She gave a bitter laugh as she realized they were all probably still answering questions. It didn't matter to her. She had learned from Michael how fickle fame could be and was content to let mother dearest find out for herself. Callie looked up for a minute and allowed the warm California rain wash over her before continuing to walk down the road. Eventually she came to a little convenience store with a payphone out front. 

   She eagerly picked up the receiver, then slammed it back down when she realized that she didn't have any money with her. She walked inside and asked the clerk if she could use the phone. 

   "That's why we have a payphone." He replied without looking up from his comic book.

   "I know, I'm sorry, I don't have any money with me." Callie begged.

   "Sounds like a personal problem." The man said unsympathetically.

   "Please, sir. It's very, very important. I'll keep it quick, I promise." She pleaded.

   "Look, I wish I could help but- hey!," The sandy haired man finally looked up at Callie, "I just saw you on the tv like 5 minutes ago!" The man- Josh, his name tag read- pointed to a small television sitting on the counter behind him. On it, Callie could see her mother and her agent still smiling and talking away to the tv cameras. 

   Callie rolled her eyes at the image on the screen. "Yea, yea... Listen, I need to make a really important phone call..."

   Josh handed her the wireless receiver, "Yes, ma'am. I've never met a celebrity before." He winked at Callie.

   She gave him a quick smile and turned her back to him. She pulled Bill's card out of her bra and paced around the store as she dialed his home phone number first. Four rings, no answer. She tried again and again there was no answer. This time she left a message telling Bill that she had finally gotten away and asking him to tell Michael that she was coming home. 

   Callie had been shocked to hear herself refer to Neverland as home, but if she was being honest with herself, it felt more like a home to her than anywhere else ever had. Callie then tried the phone number for the main house. 

   "Jackson residence." A sweet, elderly voice answered on the second ring. 

   "Hi. This is Callie Moore, you've heard of me, haven't you?" 

   "Oh, yes dear! I certainly have!" The sweet voice replied.

   "Oh good, ok. May I speak to Michael please?" Callie wasn't sure why she was so hurried. Part of her was afraid that Michael had seen the press conference, but surely he would know that she had played no part in it.

   "Oh..." The voice saddened and Callie's heart dropped. "I'm sorry dear. He's on his way to the airport... Flying to Dubai I think he said. I'm not sure when he's coming back."

   Callie felt tears threaten her eyes. "Which airport please?" She requested but was unsure how she would even find it without a car or money for a cab.

   The kind woman gave her the address and added, "Now remember dear, he boards a private plane... He'll be directly on the runway."

   "Thank you... thank you so much." Callie exclaimed and then hung up. She turned to hand the phone to Josh and asked him if he had heard of the airport. 

   "Yea... actually it's right up the road... about a half a mile." And then he pointed out the window. Callie looked up to see a plane taking off directly over the store. "It sucks because it's loud as hell all the time here, but the business is good." He explained. 

   Callie thanked him as she ran out of the door and down the road towards the airport. To her Michael.